BLIP Boy, York's most notorious young criminal, has mounted a rooftop protest at Northallerton Young Offenders' Institution.

John Michael Harris, 20, is today back inside the jail and about to spend his fourth consecutive Christmas locked up.

He will also mark his coming-of-age next February in prison, after he failed in his appeal against his current sentence.

Harris, formerly of Chapelfields, York, but now of no fixed address, was on the roof between 2.30pm and 5.30pm on December 9 with an accomplice.

Prison governor Denis Appleton said he was unsure why they had done it.

"Young offenders are fairly volatile and kick up a fuss at the slightest thing," he added.

The governor said Harris had been charged under prison rules for the protest and would have days added to his sentence.

Harris appealed against the decision by York magistrates to send him back to jail for six months after he failed to report to a supervising probation officer following his release from a three-year six-month sentence for burglary on July 7, 2000.

As soon as Judge Paul Hoffman heard about the rooftop protest, he ordered him to be handcuffed in the dock at York Crown Court.

Harris's barrister, Nigel Wray, tried to argue that the magistrates should have reduced the six-month prison recall because Harris admitted breaching his prison licence.

But the judge, sitting with two justices, said the magistrates were "perfectly entitled" to give Harris the maximum.

"That was a f.... waste of time, wasn't it?" said Harris as two dock officers led him back to the court cells.